Looking for a pet llama? An assortment of animals worthy of Noah's Ark will soon be available for adoption. Their overwhelmed owner surrendered them to Osceola County Animal Control last week. The menagerie of about 80 critters includes 29 pot-bellied pigs, 25 dogs of various breeds, seven ducks, five horses, one miniature horse, five pigeons, four geese, two llamas, two chickens, a rooster and a miniature donkey. The family that owned the animals fell into financial difficulties and was no longer able to care for them, said Lee Radebaugh, director of Animal Control.

Orlando landlord Brian Lunsford needed $40,000 to renovate a house that a college student almost burned down, so he turned to an online crowdfunding site. Within two days, more than a dozen investors had each agreed to loan him an average of $2,800 for up to 13 months. "He left a candle burning and it did significant damage to the interior," Lunsford said. "I'm fighting it out with the insurance company, and I was going to front the money myself, but it was $40,000 to renovate.

Long the favorite dirt of subdivision developers in Central Florida, Seminole County and east Orange County are nearing build-out, and Osceola and south Orange County are seeing the most activity. A Residential Markets Report released recently by Charles Wayne Consulting Inc . showed that eight of the 22 top housing projects within greater Orlando are in the Kissimmee area. "We have simply run out of lots in east Orange and in Seminole," said Jim Lewis, president of Charles Wayne Consulting Inc., which produces the reports.

More than a dozen residents left a Seminole County meeting in frustration on Tuesday after commissioners approved a request from former state Rep. Chris Dorworth that would allow dozens of new homes on 10 acres in a rural pocket near the Econlockhatchee River. "It's just really upsetting because this is a really beautiful area," said Maria Joubert, a nearby resident. "I don't think we need more homes, especially giant homes. It blows my mind that they're developing in such a beautiful area.

Prices for new single-family homes in the Orlando area continue to fall and will likely keep falling for months to come, according to the latest report by Charles Wayne Consulting Inc. in Maitland. The average price paid for a new production-built home -- not a custom job -- fell 2.8 percent during the third quarter to $311,600 in Orange, Seminole and Osceola counties. Since peaking in late 2006 at $388,700, the average price paid has declined about 20 percent, the real-estate consulting company said.

LONGWOOD — After years of feuding with Longwood over a proposed collection of homes in the city's historic district, developer Michael Towers finally got his approval last week. At Monday night's meeting, the city approved his plans for seven new homes. Towers, who had sued the city in 1998, couldn't say when construction might begin because of economic conditions, but said he was hoping to time the project to coincide with commuter rail. Rachael Jackson

Even in a real estate market defined by distress sales in recent years, buyers' appetite for new homes was up sharply last year, according to a report released Tuesday by Metrostudy Inc. Builders started work on an average of 18 houses a day in the four-county Orlando metropolitan area during the fourth quarter, according the home-construction analytics firm. Those 1,643 single-family home starts constituted a 47 percent increase from a year earlier. Housing starts for the whole year were up even more sharply - 53 percent - from 2011, as work started on 6,297 houses in 2012.

Despite opposition from several residents, the Seminole County Commission approved a rezoning that will allow an additional 44 single-family homes to be built in Alaqua, an exclusive golf and country club community north of Longwood. Half a dozen residents spoke against the plan at a Tuesday meeting, arguing the cluster of homes on 50 acres will decrease property values and increase traffic in the neighborhood off Markham Woods Road. Supporters argued that the change will boost home values and help the financially struggling golf course by requiring new homeowners to have memberships.

The Orlando Ballet will not return to the mold-infested building it has called home since 1992, executives said late Thursday. Instead, the professional dancers will rehearse at the Church Street Exchange in downtown Orlando, the school will move to a warehouse near Orlando's Loch Haven Park, and administrators and box-office staff will work in space on Orange Avenue leased from Florida Hospital for $1 per year. The 112-year-old Dr. Phillips Center for Performing Arts was evacuated late last month after tenants complained of a strong odor.

Production-home builders in the Orlando area sold more than $2 billion worth of new homes in 2008 -- a slow year by recent standards and down sharply from 2007, according to an annual survey by Charles Wayne Consulting Inc. Once again, a majority of the new houses sold and closed on in Orange, Seminole and Osceola counties were condos or town homes: Of the 7,566 homes sold and closed on last year, 61 percent were multifamily units vs. 39 percent that...

Residential construction in Lake Nona outpaced that of all other master-planned communities in the four-county Orlando area during the past year, according to a new report. The southeast Orlando development, which includes the Medical City of hospitals and research centers, closed on 415 new homes during the second quarter. Builders there started work on 464 new houses during the quarter, according to MetroStudy Director Anthony Crocco. Overall, residential construction has been flat at best in Orange, Seminole, Lake and Osceola counties.

It would be hard to imagine a place home to a more diverse collection of artists, Denise Badger noted, than College Park. From photographers to musicians, novelists, actors, sculptors and dancers, Badger noted, the neighborhood has been blessed to have so many creative talents living there. Badger is hoping to provide those artists with a collective place to perform and create - as well as mentor others interested in pursuing hobbies or careers in artistic fields. “Art is very much a part of it,” she said.

Rising prices, stagnant wages and creeping interest rates are pushing Central Florida's new-home buyers into Lake and Osceola counties, where real estate struggled the most during the downturn. After home prices collapsed starting in 2007, partly built subdivisions seemed almost frozen in time and attracted few customers. The market for new homes all but died in some parts of Lake and Osceola. But as new-home prices throughout the region shot up 20 percent during the past 18 months, more buyers were priced out of developments in Orange County, where land prices are higher.

Plans for a new neighborhood on a rural stretch of lakeside pasture in south Lake have many residents worried about preserving their environment and the rural character surrounding Sawmill Lake west of Clermont. The controversy stems from a plan to make 98 acres of empty pasture and lakeside property into a new subdivision boasting hundreds of homes. As many as four homes could be built per acre under the plan which seeks to change the area's future land use from rural and rural transition to a low-density urban use. The current land use allows only one home per five acres or one home per acre if half of the lot is set aside for open space.

Sandy Taylor bought her home overlooking the 13 t h fairway of the Rolling Hills Golf Club 25 years ago because of the quiet neighborhood and large oak trees. Since her retirement in 2002, she has played a round of golf nearly every morning on the course, built in 1926. But now, Taylor and other residents worry about a plan to turn one of the region's oldest golf courses into hundreds of new homes. They're not alone. Golf courses throughout the country, including many in Central Florida, are being bulldozed and turned into subdivisions as owners discover it makes more financial sense to sell to a developer rather than continue maintaining 18 fairways and greens at a time of waning recreational interest in the game.

Merchandise that once belonged to a longtime vendor at Renninger's antique and flea market is getting a second life in Orlando. Hinge , a new store that sells home hardware and vintage accents, has opened at 1506 N. Orange Blossom Trail in Orlando, just west of College Park. The store's offerings include home goods items such as primitive tools, bathroom fixtures, vintage lighting and hinges. The store houses more than 3 million pieces and 100,000 unique items in its 9,000-square-foot showroom.

More than a dozen residents left a Seminole County meeting in frustration on Tuesday after commissioners approved a request from former state Rep. Chris Dorworth that would allow dozens of new homes on 10 acres in a rural pocket near the Econlockhatchee River. "It's just really upsetting because this is a really beautiful area," said Maria Joubert, a nearby resident. "I don't think we need more homes, especially giant homes. It blows my mind that they're developing in such a beautiful area.

Sun Realty Service Inc. is handling sales in Eden East, a single family home subdivision off Eden Park Road in northwest Orange County. The development has 25 building lots. Homes will range in price from $75,000 to $85,000.

Poor Tinker Bell. She keeps having to up and move, and now all her friends have left her behind. But the good news is you can now use the FastPass+ system to see her. Disney has opened its latest version of Tinker Bell's Magical Nook, now located through the Town Square Theater off Main Street, U.S.A. This is the same place where you can meet the talking Mickey Mouse and the former home to the Disney Princesses before they got their new digs in Fantasyland. The updated meet-and-greet is now in what Disney is calling the Garden Theater, and will allow guests to meet the most famous of fairies, but alas, all of Tinker Bell's friends and frenemies have flown the coop.

OVIEDO - The Jacksonville Jaguars gained at least 500 new fans judging by the scene at the Miller Ale House located in Oviedo, hometown to its most famous resident - Blake Bortles. Bortles made UCF football history as the school's highest draft pick when the Jags picked him No. 3. He also was the first quarterback to be selected in the 2014 NFL Draft. Jacksonville's decision may have some Oviedo High school and UCF sports fans painting the town teal. "I'm a Jags fan now," Oviedo football coach Wes Allen said.